Duluth, Minn. — With their daughter missing in Malaysia for the past 19 months, Leslie and Janice Bushell of Duluth expected the worst, but they had no idea how bizarre and horrific the news they received would be.
The Bushells were told a week ago by their son-in-law in Ipoh, Malaysia, that their daughter, Carolyn Noraini Ahmad, 37, had been murdered. What are believed to be their daughter's remains were unearthed June 22 from a shallow grave at a Malaysian oil palm plantation.
The Associated Press in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, reported that one of four suspects in the woman's slaying led police to the grave and said that the victim was sacrificed in the hope of obtaining winning four-digit lottery numbers from the spirits.
The details of the ritual are unclear, but some Malaysians have conducted ceremonies where they offer prayers and slaughter goats in hopes of receiving inspiration on winning lottery numbers, the AP reported.
Janice Bushell said that a spokeswoman with the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur said that their daughter's head and ankles had been severed.
Roslan Ahmad, the victim's husband, told his in-laws that he identified his wife's remains and some pieces of her clothing.
Janice Bushell said that her son-in-law has requested that her daughter's dental records be sent to Malaysia and that DNA tests will be conducted to confirm her identity.
"I'm hoping they find out that it really wasn't her, but I know that's not going to be coming true," Janice Bushell said Friday afternoon.
The Duluth native's case bears an eerie similarity to that of another Minnesota woman who disappeared while backpacking in Malaysia three years ago.
Margaret Elizabeth "Molly" Kleinman, 30, vanished in 1998 on a trip to Taman Negara, Malaysia's largest national park. She left behind her passport, journal and other valuables at the resort hostel but few other clues about her fate.
Kleinman's family, who live in St. Paul, has made numerous trips to Malaysia to search for her, hired private investigators and offered rewards. An aunt contacted Friday said she knew of no new developments in the case.
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